Reb Gavriel Sassoon Celebrates Engagement

Following the fire that claimed the lives of seven of his children, Reb Gavriel Sassoon created a remarkable kiddush Hashem with his response to that epic tragedy.

Reb Gavriel ultimately relocated to Israel, and he is now celebrating his engagement to Yocheved Elchadad, a daughter of Rav Masoud Elchadad, a dayan in Yerushalayim.

The vort will be held in the near future, with the wedding expected to take place during the month of Kislev.

Back in 2015, the Sassoon home in Brooklyn went up in flames, claimed the lives of Gavriel’s children, 16-year-old Eliane, the eldest; 13-year-old Rivkah; 12-year-old David; 10-year-old Yeshua; 8-year-old Moshe; 7-year-old Sarah; and 5-year old Yaakov. His 15-year-old daughter Tziporah survived.

Everyone remember Gavriel’s hesped. Without preparing any comments, without knowing what he was going to say, after refusing anti-depressant medication because he didn’t want to dull the pain, Sassoon tore the heartstrings of everyone present.

Very few people manage to survive after such a disaster. It took Gavriel 30 days to understand whether or not he even had a reason to go on. “I remember traveling to Israel to visit the graves 30 days after the disaster. I was staying with friends who don’t have children so that it wouldn’t hurt too much,” he said. “At the end of the month I felt that I needed to decided whether I wanted to live or not. I told myself, ‘Get up, clip your nails, shave, and choose life. You still have work to do in this world.’

“When I got back to New York, messages started coming in – young people contemplating suicide, sick people, people with money problems, relationship trouble. I turned from being a private family man to a public person. Suddenly I, still digesting the magnitude of my disaster, need to encourage others. People ask me how I get up each morning. I kid and say that I have to get up to pray Shacharis, I’m a slave to the lord. I very quickly understood it’s also a destiny.

“I tell myself there’s a reason I stayed here. The body’s life is temporary, the soul and spirit are eternal. I know not everyone understands this, not everyone understands how I go on like this. My biggest survival tool is that I am too small to decide my fate. I don’t run the world, the Almighty chose a different path for me.”

May Reb Gavriel only experience besuros tovos going forward. Mazel tov to him and his kallah.